City's top sports fan still remembers the scores

Marvin Gray doesn't get to as many games, in assisted living

KEVIN SWANK / Courier & Press
Marvin Gray waves the flag during Military Appreciation Night at the Otters game at Bosse Field in Evansville on Thursday, July 24, 2013. Gray was at the game with two hospice volunteers, Mary Beeson and Mark McNeer.

Kevin Swank, The Evansville Courier & Press

Bob Gwaltney / Courier & Press archives
Marvin Gray is given a plaque at a USI Basketball game in the early 80s.

Daniel R. Patmore / Courier & Press Archives
Marvin Gray of Evansville pats Mater Dei’s #19 Jared Eickhoff on the back as the team leaves the field after losing to Heritage Christian, 10-6, in Saturday’s Class 2A Baseball Semi-State game in Jasper, Ind. on June 13, 2009.

ERIN MCCRACKEN / COURIER & PRESS Archives
Longtime Evansville sports fan, Marvin Gray, is honored by fans during halftime of the University of Evansville basketball game on Jan. 30, 2013 at the Ford Center. For over 40 years Gray has been both a fan and volunteer at both UE games and EVSC IHSSA sporting events throughout the city. Gray who is currently ill and in hospice can no longer be on the sidelines for games. “ After I heard that Marvin was ill a bunch of us thought it would be a great idea to honor him in a place he called home,” Don Mattingly said, “ I remember seeing Marvin at sporting events ever since I was really young. He has always been a big part of sports in Evansville.”

KEVIN SWANK / Courier & Press
Marvin Gray looks at the large crowd during Military Appreciation Night at the Otters game at Bosse Field in Evansville on July 24. Gray, foreground, was at the game with his with two hospice volunteers, Mark McNeer and Mary Beeson.

Kevin Swank, The Evansville Courier & Press

When the pulley broke on the Bosse Field flagpole, Marvin Gray improvised near home plate as the national anthem was played before an Evanville Triplets game in the early 1980s.
Bob Gwaltney / Courier & Press archives